Page 83 of All My Broken Pieces

A shuffle of fabric sounds moments before large hands press against my skin. Fingers push against my pressure point and a warm hand lies flat on my forehead. “Her pulse is better and temperature feels more normal.” A deep voice reports following the brief examination. “I really think we need to take her to the hospital, Arri.”

“No.” Arriana snaps. “No hospitals, Coop.” My heart aches at the pain in her voice.

I’m so sorry.

It’s a silent cry as I ache to comfort her, but find I can’t move or speak.

There’s a long silence before the man sighs. “Okay.” He agrees, grunting as he must push to his feet. “But I’m keeping a close eye on her.”

“You and me both,hermano.”

My mind grows fuzzy again as I try to focus on their conversation. Exhaustion overtaking me, I cling on as hard as I can, not wanting to leave Arriana again. Not when I just got her back.

A whimper escapes my throat.

Familiar hands brush back my hair, soft lips I would recognize anywhere pressing against my forehead. “It’s okay,mi vida. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” Arriana soothes.

“Mmm.” The small noise is all I can manage to respond with before the darkness pulls me under again.

I’m drowning.

My lungs fill with water, but that can’t be right.

Spluttering, I try to cough out the liquid threatening to suffocate me. I scramble upright, bending over and heaving, but nothing comes out.

No, no I can’t die. Not like this.

Clasping my hands together, I shove them up into my sternum, trying desperately to push the water from my lungs.

One.

Two.

Three.

I count as I slam my hands into my body over and over, growing more and more desperate with each attempt.

Please.

I don’t know who I’m begging to, but I cry out anyway. Because I’m not ready, I’m not ready, I’m. Not. Ready.

With one last forceful push, I expel the liquid, only it’s not water that flows from my mouth.

Blinking, I watch as words pour out, a vomit of syllables spewing from my lips. And with each word that escapes, the heaviness in my lungs lessens.

I take a deep breath, inhaling the much needed oxygen and watching as the letters swirl beneath me, moving and rearranging. With wide, disbelieving eyes, I watch them come together, a story forming from the very thing that was sucking the life from my body.

And as the story unfolds, I feel my soul cry out, begging for more.

Chapter 41

Arriana

My leg bounces as I watch Fallon. She hasn’t woken again since her brief moment of consciousness and it’s sending me into a bit of a tailspin. My fingers itch to do something, to make someone pay, but there’s nothing I can do.

“So much for a party.” The grumbled words reach me, pulling my attention away from my sleeping nymph.

Glaring at the three men huddled in the corner of the room, I growl, “Sorry we couldn’t live up to your high party lifestyle, Spencer.”

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